Does Government know what it’s costing you?

A new regulation lands on your desk. Perhaps it means additional paperwork, higher costs or another hurdle before your wine reaches an overseas buyer. You know what it means for your business. But does the person making the decision know?

Behind the scenes, the organisation engages with government departments, industry bodies and businesses to influence decisions that affect the wine industry’s operating environment. Sometimes that means challenging a proposal, and other times it means finding a workable alternative.

“It’s about representing the wine industry’s interest in every conversation, every discussion, every negotiation,” says Jordyn Goeieman, Policy, Market Access & Stakeholder Engagement Coordinator at South Africa Wine.

Getting the right people around the table

Take SARS, for example. An export certification problem may require engagement with customs, while concerns about illicit trade and enforcement involve entirely different parts of the organisation. Even identifying the right decision-makers can take several conversations.

“Fundamentally, the answer to that is the fact that when decisions are made, they affect different stakeholders, and they affect them in different ways,” Jordyn explains. “There’s always a balancing act that must go into how decisions are made and how policies are formed or amended.”

For South Africa Wine, influencing those decisions means understanding the industry’s preferred outcome, recognising competing interests and finding arguments that stand up to scrutiny. That is also why advocacy is not only about objecting to legislation or asking government to reconsider a decision. It involves putting forward credible evidence, proposing workable solutions and maintaining relationships long enough for those conversations to continue.

An example of South Africa Wine’s advocacy efforts in the interests of its members was with the South African Bureau of Standards, who published a Gazette under the Standards Act, 2008 calling for comments on the examination of physical excise tax stamps to indicate that the correct excise duty and applicable taxes had been paid for products in the market.

Jordyn goes on to note that “our advocacy efforts against the use of tax stamps was not in objection to regulatory compliance or the importance of excise duties, but rather to ensure acknowledgement of the successes achieved in the wine industry through an established, practical and value-adding certification and seal system.”

Thus, through multiple submissions and stakeholder consultations, we were ultimately able to prevent the adoption of additional regulatory compliance measures that would have detrimentally impacted our members while maintaining our commitment to work alongside government to ensure illicit alcohol is addressed using effective and appropriate measures.

A complaint is not yet a case

“Our role on behalf of our members is to represent them as a credible voice for the industry, and the only way in which we are able to do that is if we’re able to actually engage with them and get information from them,” says Jordyn.

Research and official statistics have their place, but they cannot always show what is happening inside a cellar, on a farm or in an export business. The organisation can take concerns into discussions that individual businesses may struggle to access, but the strength of its argument depends on understanding what those businesses are experiencing.

“In the long game of advocacy, incremental success can be measured by how well an issue is understood by someone completely outside of our industry.”

What happens when the answer is no?

Even a well-researched argument does not guarantee a favourable decision. The government may have other priorities, or different sectors may be affected by the same proposal. And sometimes, despite all the effort, the answer is simply no.

For Jordyn, that is not necessarily the end of the conversation. “Even a no means going back to your members, reconvening, and figuring out an alternative solution or an alternative approach that you could take. That may mean gathering additional evidence, reconsidering the proposed solution or identifying another opportunity to raise the issue.”

It also means recognising that influencing policy is seldom a once-off exercise. The same concerns may resurface when legislation is reviewed, economic circumstances change or new trade barriers emerge. South Africa Wine’s role is therefore not limited to responding when something goes wrong. It also involves maintaining the relationships and understanding needed to engage before decisions are finalised.

Why being heard matters

Much of this work happens without a public announcement. A concern is raised in a meeting, information from several businesses is brought together, a submission is prepared, another discussion follows. Sometimes progress is made; sometimes the process starts again.

For members, it can be difficult to see what is happening between raising a problem and receiving an answer. But there is an important distinction between having a concern and ensuring that concern is considered when decisions are made.

“South Africa Wine cannot determine government policy. What it can do is work to ensure that the consequences for wine businesses are understood, supported by evidence and presented to the people responsible for those decisions. And businesses have a part to play in making that possible,” Jordyn says.

“When a regulation, trade barrier or policy decision affects your operation, the details matter. Explain what is happening. Show what it costs. Share the information that demonstrates the impact. It does not guarantee that government will change its mind. But it gives us a stronger basis from which to argue its case.

“Influencing decisions is not always about winning the argument the first time. Sometimes it is about making sure the right argument is heard and knowing when to return to the table.”